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Wednesday, July 08, 2009

I've Been Refuted, Once Again

And now...a brief excursion into the world of the sublime....

At this point, I don't really recall why DA no longer mentions my name on his blog, but rather writes about me using an insulting name he's created. I think, if I recall correctly, he's doing it as some sort of punishment. I'm a little fuzzy on all the facts at this point, but if I recall, after his negations via the telephone with Tim Enloe, they both decided to play nice together, and both removed the "DA is [insert slander] " and the "Tim is [insert slander]" posts from their respective blogs. Of course, that peace only lasts as long as DA can tolerate. He's recently re-posted his "Tim is [insert slander]" diatribes from long ago. Yes, turning the other check only can last so long in the world of DA. It is very reminiscent of junior high school.

A while back, DA offered the same olive branch to me. He asked that I go through my entire blog, and remove any nasties I may have uttered against the DA empire. Go through my entire blog and edit? That's stuff for people with time to do. Perhaps a full time professional Catholic apologist tapping away on his computer somewhere has time for that, but I don't. But DA, decided to delete all the "James Swan is [insert slander]" material from his blog.

Yes, such great efforts showed me the great moral high road... for a little while. He then began using an insulting name for me he made up..."John Q. "Deadhead." Now maybe he explained this ostensive title, if he did, I don't recall what the point is. So, he continued writing the same nasties against me, though without using my real name. Such is Catholic morality 101. This to me seems even worse than before he edited his nasty posts about me and sent me candy and flowers.

Now recently DA stopped by and left a few comments, which surprised me as well, because he vowed to never waste his time over here with me. I admit, I did leave a stray comment on one of DA's recent Luther entries when he posted he had recently "discovered an entire online translation of Martin Luther's tract, Against Henry VIII." I think my comment was "LOL". Discovered? No, he found it....by reading my blog. LOL.

But then DA appeared over here, which was very surprising.

Anyway, both he and Paul Hoffer seemed a bit befuddled by my comment about Gregory of Nyssa: "his language reflects his understanding of sacred scripture. The arguments I would have with him would be over his interpretation of the Biblical text, not his use of words that may not be found in the Bible." Both DA and Paul thought this comment implied that in some sense, a modern day Roman Catholic (like DA or Paul) could be considered as to adhering to sola scriptura. I was actually amazed by this sentiment- because, at least with these guys, I assumed each understood sola scriptura. I then recommended a few books for these guys to pick up.

This though was another opportunity for DA to continue breaking his vow to never interact with me again. He posted, yet again, another one of those "James Swan is [insert slander]" posts. I actually tried to listen to it via his new MP3 feature, but it says "Sorry, this article is not available yet." I can only speculate it's a technical issue, or DA isn't quite finished either adding or deleting more nasties to it. He tends to post and then edit. Anyway, I didn't save a copy, so whatever form it takes-mudless or mud throwing, is all up to DA.

Anyway, this isn't all too difficult to explain. One aspect of Sola Scriptura says that the Scriptures are the sole infallible authority for the church. That is, the only evidence of God's infallible special revelation extant in the world today are the sacred scriptures. When Hoffer and DA thought my comments in regard to Gregory of Nyssa's interpretation of the Bible could likewise be applied across the board to all Catholics, they in essence, missed this fundamental point. To my knowledge, DA and Hoffer believe that God's infallible voice of special revelation is not only found in the Bible, but in the teaching magisterium and Sacred Tradition. My math isn't that good, but that's 3 vehicles of infallible special revelation, not 1. Therefore, it would be impossible to say any modern Romanist holding to 3 vehicles of infallible special revelation in any sense held to sola scriptura.

The counter to comment about Gregory of Nyssa would be to prove Gregory of Nyssa held that God's infallible voice of special revelation was found elsewhere. All the material I've seen so far shows that Gregory of Nyssa considered the Scriptures to be the infallible voice of God. I'm no expert on Gregory of Nyssa. Perhaps one could present interesting counter evidence showing at least, Gregory of Nyssa was inconsistent (recall he wasn't infallible). I'm sure Gregory of Nyssa believed the church has authority, well so do I. Sola scriptura does not deny the church has authority. I bet Gregory of Nyssa thought that there have been times in which God's infallible revelation was transmitted orally, well, so do I. Sola Scriptura does not deny there have been such times. I bet Gregory of Nyssa believed in tradition. Well, so do I. Sola scriptura is not a denial of all tradition. Some traditions can be God honoring and useful in the church. They are though, not infallible, and must be tested and scrutinized by the Scriptures. I bet Gregory of Nyssa believed the Holy Spirit guides the church, well so do I. The Holy Spirit can guide the church without her being infallible.

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“Let nobody suppose that he has tasted the Holy Scriptures sufficiently unless he has ruled over the churches with the prophets for a hundred years. Therefore there is something wonderful, first, about John the Baptist; second, about Christ; third, about the apostles...“We are beggars. That is true.” - Martin Luther

"It is true that the best apologetics can be given only when the system of truth is well known. But it is also true that the system of truth is not well known except it be seen in its opposition to error."- Cornelius Van Til

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This is the best book available on Sola Scriptura. For Protestants, it will help you understand and defend sola scriptura. For Catholics, this book will help you understand exactly what Protestants mean by sola scriptura, rather than what you think it means. I highly recommend getting this book, it never leaves my desk, and serves as a valuable reference tool.